


Cut from the Same Cloth

by EverSquirrely



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Awkward proposal, F/M, Felileth Week (Fire Emblem), Fix-It, Fluff, Marriage Proposal, Post-Blue Lions Route (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Sparring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:27:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25360831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EverSquirrely/pseuds/EverSquirrely
Summary: (Spoilers for Blue Lions route - My rewrite for the Felileth S Rank video)The day is won and the world is saved.  But where is there a place for two soldiers, accustomed to battle and blood in this new world of peace?
Relationships: Felix Hugo Fraldarius/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 9
Kudos: 58





	Cut from the Same Cloth

**Author's Note:**

> There's a few of the S-Rank videos I want to try my hand at! So many of them felt so close but not quite, and I do love Felileth.
> 
> Happy Felileth Week 2020!

### Byleth

The reception hall of Garrag Mach weaved with robes in the Kingdom’s sapphire blue and the Seiros silver. The tables towered with food. Nobles, commoners, lords and officers alike celebrated the fall of Enbarr, and therefore, the end of the Adrestian Empire.

Byleth knew she would be at the center of the celebration. After all, she had found Lady Rhea, won the war, and in effect, united Fodlan. At least, that is what they all said. As though the efforts of her students for nearly six years were second to Byleth’s Sublime Creator Sword and Crest of Flames.

If Sothis could still have been heard, Byleth imagined she would say “How funny.” Not in a malicious way. Sothis had been clear she saw Byleth’s heart, and apparently was satisfied in her virtue to join with her.

Still, the thought rang in Byleth’s mind in that soft, musical voice.

_How funny._

Byleth would be the Archbishop of a religion she knew little about.

_How funny._

“The goddess will be with you each step of the way,” Mercedes lilted with her soft voice and gentle smile. And she would - but Byleth could not hear her.

_How funny._

“No greater, more exemplary character to fill that role,” Dimitri said, embarrassed by his own words. As though, after the last year and a half - or rather, nearer to six years - had completely stamped on Byleth titles like “Hero” or “Savior” and erased the other traces.

_How funny._

Ashe thanked her, eyes misty, for “teaching him to be a true knight.” As though he hadn’t always possessed more of that character than Byleth ever had.

_How funny._

Inside, she still felt like the Ashen Devil. Following Jeralt to the next job, sword born for money rather than high ideals like “Justice” or “Righteousness.” Byleth felt like a merc who happened to be hired by Rhea to achieve some large, divine purpose.

_How. Very. Funny._

Byleth swallowed, her eye meeting Felix’s. He wore his light blue finery, hair loose for a change. The sharp points of his profile, eyes, and jaw were defined even from a distance. He was not alone exactly. He orbited a group of people closely enough to be considered part of it, but just far enough to be plucked from it. When Byleth approached, he easily sidestepped to join her. Annoyance hung at the edge of his voice when he said, “We fought to bring peace to Fodlan, but peace is so boring.”

Byleth smiled. Those were perhaps the truest words of the night.

Felix shook his head. “No more chances to swing my sword at enemies. No more life-threatening battles.” He caught her eye again. He seemed to catch himself, answering the scold before someone could give it. “I know that those are positive developments, but I’m still a warrior at heart. Here I am, watching sadly as my blade grows dull.”

Byleth understood entirely. She sighed, and replied, “That’s selfish.” Byleth smiled, adding, “And I feel the same.”

Felix’s lips curled briefly. His copper eyes rested on hers. “We're cut from the same cloth, you and I.”

A rough cloth, designed for function rather than beauty. Frayed at the edges from wear. A cloth that could be sliced without shredding. It didn’t look especially fine or feel soft, but it survived. “We are,” Byleth agreed. Dropping her voice, she said, “I suppose I will need to actually read the teachings of Seiros now.”

Felix’s laugh hid in the back of his throat. “I suspect I’ll be sharpening my quill so I can _govern._ ”

The quiet contempt in the word “govern” said it all.

They shared a rare smile.

Felix was a fascinating creature. When they first met, he was condescending and combative. Byleth watched him struggle to understand his classmates behaviors. When his classmates were playful, Felix scolded them for laziness. When they were vulnerable, Felix trampled them with coldness. His own moments of softness glowed briefly, always swallowed in anger, as though he were tricked into exposing himself.

Byleth understood that struggle. She had been described as cold, solemn. Inhuman. Or other times, as blank and stupid. She could watch and understand others, apparently with great accuracy, but she never really knew how to be understood.

Felix had started to do what Byleth had decided was impossible - he started to draw himself out. Byleth had scarcely recognized his manner at their reunion at Garreg Mach.

Only Felix’s edges could be smoothed by war.

Felix’s eyes drifted to his feet. “I will likely head to the training room after this.” Was there a tremor of uncertainty, just at the very end? “Please, join me, when you are finished here.”

Why did his cheeks suddenly redden? He only kept her eye for a moment, before adding, “Only if you want to, don’t waste my time.”

### Felix

Maybe he was no better than the boar prince.

No matter how skillfully, swiftly, or furiously Felix wielded his blade, the training dummy offered nothing. No adrenaline, no fear. No feeling of being _alive_.

Felix laughed bitterly to the dummy. Glenn died “a true knight.” His old man died a martyr. And Felix had the audacity to live in a strange world that had no place for him.

 _The dead are dead. The living are living._ Felix repeated it like a mantra. It didn’t quell the ache.

Trading his blade for gauntlets, Felix tested his jabs. If Felix owed nothing to the dead, then what did he owe the living? There was no war to fight for them. They didn’t need his sword, they depended on his leadership. Was there any better way to torture Felix, than to give him hundreds of vulnerable people who depended on him?

Felix’s future would be spent counting taxes, discussing crop yields, and diplomacy. He would be asked inane questions over which house he intended to marry.

The blush broke his cheeks again. Felix checked his pocket quickly to make sure the ring hadn’t fallen out, before redoubling his strikes against the dummies to quell the unease.

“Why do you fight?” he had asked Byleth all those years ago.

“To survive.” Plain, little emotion.

Not “for my king,” not “to serve.” Not for justice or chivalry. She fought to survive, and she had ended a war and stopped the spilling of blood.

Felix had fought, first to surpass Glenn, then Byleth.

But, why would he lead?

His fist struck the dummy, and it yielded easily. Grunting with frustration, he knew one thing would have to be true: he wouldn’t spend the rest of his life wallowing in thoughts of death and violence.

Byleth’s footsteps caught his ear. He turned. “Finally, you came.” He wiped the sweat from his brow nervously.

Byleth’s smile hovered on her face, and she nodded. Some warmth traced to her bright green eyes. In truth, Felix missed when they were blue. They had resembled the quiet darks of the bay near Fraldarius territory. Deceptively still.

“Wars begin and end, but this place never changes,” he said, filling the silence. “And you never change either.” He heard the affection in his voice. It summoned up a horrible jolt of fear that Felix swallowed down.

“I am the same, in a strangely different way,” Byleth mused. Her voice is always smooth and even. A familiar seriousness set her face. Meeting his eye, she added, “And so are you.”

“That’s true.” Felix wasn’t sure why, but he felt it was true.

No words were needed. Once Byleth had tied her gauntlets and took her fighting stance, Felix mirrored her.

Byleth always waited for him to make the first move. He noticed that with enemies in battle as well. She would bait an enemy close, and something in what she saw of their approach she used to devise her response.

On the rare instances she initiated, she did so with fatal precision.

Felix took the bait, holding back enough from his strike that when she inevitably dodged, he was able to clip her with his other fist. She took advantage of the closeness, hooking his gut and floating back.

The rush flooded back. But instead of fear, the adrenaline surged at the challenge. Byleth’s face set in beautiful determination.

Observe. Evaluate. Act.

Felix had borrowed her method. In combat, and even more so in conversation.

Felix landed a rare blow on her torso, narrowly dodging the jab that followed.

“Good shot,” Byleth said breathlessly. She smiled. Broader than he ever saw her smile, wide enough to show her teeth and dance in her eyes. She rested against the pillar, eyes on him with her glowing smile.

Felix’s heart flipped. He propped his hand against the wall behind her, his own breath heavy and his heart racing. Why could he never guess what she thought? He knew she constantly churned through information, but her eyes fixed on him seemed so unreadable.

“I asked you to come here for a reason,” Felix blurted out. Before he could regret it, he slid the small silver ring and it’s nestled emerald out of his pocket.

Byleth looked from his eyes, surprise clear on her face. She tossed down her gauntlets, taking the ring from his hands. The pause felt infinitely long, before she murmured, “Felix...” Surprise? Pity? Discomfort?

Felix shoved down the mounting terror. “Without a worthy opponent like you at my side, not only will my sword grow dull… it will rust.” Her silence felt excruciating. He had practiced more, but it danced from his mind. Observe. Evaluate. Felix cleared his throat. “So, I had to think of a way to make sure you would always be with me. This is what I came up with.”

If there was a worse way to propose, Felix wasn’t aware of it.

Felix drew in a breath. He had to fix it. “And…”

“And?”

Of course that was what Byleth waited for. What person would marry someone who couldn’t even say the real reason why they wanted to get married? Felix’s cheeks burned furiously. He tried for a joke. “You’re pretty slow on the uptake.” Oh no. That was much worse. “Don’t you know what this ring means?” he pleaded.

Was her smile warm, or teasing? “I want to hear you say it,” she said.

Where were the words? Why couldn’t he words? “I don’t want to be like the boar, I don’t want to be made of violence, but I don’t know anything else. You are strong and brilliant and I don’t know how to do this without you.”

The arch in her eyebrow had to be teasing. “Aren’t you more comfortable holding a sword than a woman’s hand?”

Felix’s annoyed sigh escaped. He had said that, in the Goddess tower. “Damn, I can be an idiot sometimes…”

Byleth smirked knowingly. “I wouldn’t want to distract you with... _love_ and _romance_.” The breathy way she whispered the two words drew a blush. If she intended to say no, then she was really drawing it out.

Felix groaned, dropping his forehead to the pillar. “Do you have any other stupid things I said when I was seventeen?” Frustration at her, himself, his past self, built. “If you keep messing around, I’ll… I’ll…”

Felix should not have leaned closer. Byleth whispered mischievously, “If you aren’t careful, someone might mistake me for your lover.”

Felix stepped back, throwing his hands up. “Fine. Listen carefully, I’m not going to say this more than once.” The confusing mix of shame, fear, and embarrassment burned him from the inside. He really hoped the flame on his face wasn’t visible. “I want you to be my wife. Please say yes. Let’s get married and be together until we die.” He drew in a breath. “I love you.”

Whether it was an eternity or a moment, Felix couldn’t stand it. Every part of his mind told him to retreat. Finally, he said, “That’s all.”

“Wait!” Byleth’s hand caught his, tugging him back.

“What? Do you have something to complain about? Any other terrible things I have said?” The confusing blend of adrenaline and embarrassment tainted his voice.

Though the slyness hadn’t left her eye, Byleth’s voice warmed with affection when she said, “I love you too, and I accept.”

The relief flooded his body. She took the opening to catch his jaw in her hands, pulling him recklessly against her to kiss him.

Sylvain always lectured Felix that when Felix kissed a girl, he would have to be gentle for once. Girls are “dainty,” “soft,” and “you can’t just pin them down and stick your tongue down your throat.” He rambled about romance and flattery, and Felix rolled his eyes at how many times Sylvain used the word “tender.”

Felix was relieved to find his own first kiss felt nothing like that. Though her lips were soft, there was nothing dainty about the grip Byleth had on his shoulder and lower back.

Eventually, Byleth pushed him back. From her pocket, she pulled a ring. Small, silver, with slender stones radiating from the center like a star. “Jeralt left this for me. He had given it to my mother, and he said-” she paused. Was Felix mistaken, or was she embarrassed? Had he ever seen her embarrassed? “He said to give it to someone I love as much as he loved her. Someone I want to spend the rest of my life with.”

Felix didn’t know what to say, so of course he said the wrong thing. “Oh. Okay then.”

Byleth’s knowing smile gave away it didn’t escape her. Rather than criticizing him for it, she said, “Before we took Enbarr, I visited them in the cemetery. When I took out the ring, I only thought of you.”

There could be no equivalent to hearing her say that.

“If you knew you were going to say yes, Did you have to torment me?” He muttered. He sounded pathetic, he hated sounding pathetic.

To his surprise, she did too when she said, “I know you don’t tell people what they want to hear. I know you speak your truth.” Clearing her throat, she said, “I never saw the love my parents had. But I want to know it. So, yes. I had to be sure which of your words were true.”

“In that case, I’d better start planning for the future.” Felix swallowed, still in disbelief. “My future… with you.” Felix cautiously pressed his lips to hers. She made it seem so easy. Her hands moving against the nape of his neck. Felix felt fixed with one of his hands planted on the pillar beside her head, the other disarmingly close to her waist.

Byleth hovered back from the kiss. “I do have one suggestion. For our future.”

The blush eagerly returned to his cheeks, and Felix groaned, looking at his feet. “I know. I shouldn’t have yelled at you that I love you.”

Byleth’s smile was perfect in every way. “Please promise you will at least say you love me more than once. I don’t think I will tire of hearing you say it.”

Felix had no idea what his face was doing. With the swirl of adrenaline and relief, his face twitched of its own accord. He could only hope it was actually a smile. “I… I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Felix knew he would also never tire of hearing it.


End file.
